Parents of young drivers would back additional tougher driving laws designed to reduce the high human and financial cost of road accidents involving young and newly qualified drivers, new research has found.
On the 1 March, higher penalties for using a mobile phone while driving were introduced for all motorists and last year in Wales, 2.5% of drivers were convicted of the offence.
However, newly qualified drivers stand to be the most severely affected if caught using a mobile device behind the wheel as the 6 penalty points they’d receive is enough to trigger a 12 month driving ban if received within 2 years of passing their test.
New research from Gocompare.com Car Insurance, carried out amongst 1000 parents of 17 to 25 year olds who’ve passed their driving tests, found that 10% had children who’d had an accident requiring an insurance claim within one year of qualifying to drive and up to 62% would agree with further changes to driving laws to make younger drivers safer.
According to the ABI, drivers aged 17-to-20 are twice as likely to make an insurance claim as other drivers and their claims costs will be three times higher as well. 54% of parents said that they worry about their child’s safety when they are out driving.